Apr. 10, 2013

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff

Well-known Detroit reporter Charlie LeDuff appeared on Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report” Tuesday to promote his new book “Detroit: An American Autopsy” and to diagnose the city’s “cause of death.”

LeDuff, who wrote for the Detroit News and now works for WJBK-TV (Channel 2), attributed to the city’s problems to “White flight, black flight, business flight, job flight, we even have dead flight,” he said, citing a trend of Detroit residents afraid to even bury their relatives in the city.

During the seven-minute interview with host Stephen Colbert, LeDuff described Detroit’s fiscal crisis as a cautionary tale for the rest of the country. “You better look at Detroit, because that’s what happens when you run out of money.”